This Is the Best City for Vegans and Vegetarians in the U.S.-and It Has Plant-based Festivals, Bakeries, and Fine Dining

"In September, the personal finance website revealed its list, which it determined by comparing the 100 most populated cities across three key metrics: affordability, diversity, accessibility, quality, and "vegetarian lifestyle." That included looking at everything from the average cost of groceries for vegetarians and vegans, the number of restaurants with vegetarian and vegan offerings, and for the vegetarian lifestyle, the availability of vegan and vegetarian festivals."

""One contributing factor is that it has the second-largest number of affordable restaurants with vegetarian or vegan options that have at least 4.5 stars on Yelp," the team explained. "In addition, the city has a very high number of organic farms, community gardens, farmers' markets, and vegetable nurseries per capita." It also noted that if you do visit Portland as a vegetarian, know you'll be in good company as residents of Portland order "this type of cuisine 148 percent more often than the U.S. average."

Approximately 5 percent of Americans identify as vegetarian or vegan, totaling more than 16 million people. A ranking compared the 100 most populated U.S. cities using metrics of affordability, diversity, accessibility, quality, and vegetarian lifestyle. Evaluated factors included average grocery costs for vegetarians and vegans, the number of restaurants offering vegetarian and vegan dishes, and the availability of vegetarian and vegan festivals. Portland, Oregon ranked highest. Portland features a large number of affordable vegetarian or vegan restaurants with high Yelp ratings, abundant organic farms, community gardens, farmers' markets, and vegetable nurseries per capita. Portland residents order vegetarian cuisine substantially more often than the national average and report high daily vegetable consumption.

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